DENVER—A man carrying a gun and declaring “I am the emperor” was shot and killed Monday outside the offices of Gov. Bill Ritter by a state patrolman, a spokesman said. Ritter was inside the office but was not injured.

The unidentified man refused orders to drop his gun, spokesman Evan Dreyer said. Four or five shots were heard, but authorities would not say how many times the patrolman fired.

The man did not fire his weapon, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said, declining to say if it was loaded. The patrolman, whose name was not immediately available, is a member of Ritter’s security detail.

Before he was shot, the gunman said, “I am the emperor and I’m here to take over state government,” Dreyer said. The man had walked into the reception area of Ritter’s office and was being escorted out before he produced a gun and refused orders to put it down, Jackson said.

The shooting occurred at about 2 p.m. in a hall outside the governor’s offices on the first floor of the Capitol.

Ritter said he was in the office with 10 or 11 other people and heard shots, but he would not say how close he was to the gunman. He said some of his staff members witnessed the shooting.

Investigators did not know the man’s name or his motive, Jackson said. He declined to discuss the gunman’s statement but said it was considered threatening.

Jackson said the man, who appeared to be wearing a dark suit, had at least two confrontations with the governor’s security detail in the moments before the shooting, but he did not give details.

Police in the Denver suburb of Northglenn said the man may have rented a tuxedo from a formal wear shop Monday morning.

Tobie Locke, a bridal manager at Mister Neat’s in Northglenn, said a man came in around 10 a.m. Monday asking to rent a tuxedo and when asked the occasion said, “Today’s the day of the emperor’s reign.”

She noticed he was carrying a gun and a knife and called police immediately after he left the shop in an SUV at around 11 a.m., nearly three hours before the shooting. He did not say where he was going.

“It was something to where we felt that it’s a good possibility that it’s the same guy,” Northglenn police Sgt. Steve Garrow said.

He left with a standard black tuxedo, with a black bow tie and a black vest.

“He was very nervous, and sweating a lot, and breathing very heavy, but he never said anything threatening to me,” Locke said. Still, “I had the impression he was going to hurt somebody,” Locke said.

Jackson had no immediate comment.

Authorities said there had been no specific threats against the governor before Monday’s shooting.

The Capitol has no metal detectors. They are usually installed temporarily during the governor’s annual State of the State address in January but then are removed.

Metal detectors were installed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but were removed the following July after lawmakers objected to making it more difficult for the public to visit.

Ritter said Capitol security would be temporarily stepped up while lawmakers and others discuss any permanent changes. Starting Tuesday, all visitors will be required to enter through a single entrance and pass through a metal detector, he said. It wasn’t clear how long that requirement would be in place.

“We live in a country where there is just that constant tension about security versus openness,” he said.

“We have always said this building is the people’s building and the place where we conduct business, and it’s the people’s business. There are going to be discussions going forward about how we achieve that right balance between security and keeping it open,” Ritter said.

Ritter said he was pleased with the level of security he is provided.

State Rep. Edward Casso said he saw the gunman after the shooting and described him as being in his 30s or 40s, dressed in a white shirt and dark slacks.

Casso said a state patrolman told him to evacuate, adding, “I started to panic a little bit. I was just hoping that was the end of it.”

Authorities roped off the area where the man was shot, and an ambulance and eight police cars converged on the building’s north entrance.

An hour after the shooting, state troopers and police—some carrying automatic weapons—ordered the Capitol evacuated and began a room-by-room search. They did not say whether the search was a precaution or whether they had reason to believe someone else was involved.

Pat Garriott said he was eating in the basement cafeteria when he heard shots.

“We heard a series of loud bangs, about four,” he said. “My partner and I looked up and saw a flash of smoke. We figured out it was probably gunshots.”

Security agents rushed them into a basement office for safety and kept them there for about 20 minutes, he said.

Casso, a first-term Democrat, said the Capitol should have metal detectors.

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